The assignment of tasks in primitive agricultural societies may have involved a division of work along sexual lines, with the fields entrusted to the women while the men hunted (although men would have helped with the more physically demanding tasks such as clearing land). Because crop cultivation began as a part-time means of supplementing the food source, there was little likelihood of full-time specialization in primitive agriculture. Yet even in its earliest stages agriculture was significant to the organization of work, for it provided a slight surplus that could be used to support human society’s first real specialists: makers of metal tools and weapons.

Although the origins of metallurgy are as yet unclear, the development and use of copper tools and weapons created a new organization of work in which some persons devoted their full time to mining, smelting, and forging (seeBronze Age). Although deposits of flint for stone tools and weapons were fairly widely and evenly distributed, copper ores were not. Some of the earlier copper artifacts and remains of early copper mines have been found in areas where climate and topography most likely prevented agricultural development. Geography thus made it difficult for the earliest miners and metalworkers to cultivate crops. Besides, the techniques of prospecting, mining, smelting, casting, and forging were probably so demanding of physical strength and mental concentration as to preclude the metallurgist from farming or hunting activities.

Because copper ores are generally located in mountainous regions, the metal had to be transported to its lowland users. The specializations of mining and metalworking could evolve only after cultivation efforts created yields that could exceed subsistence levels. Thus, metalworkers and their families were supported by the surplus foodstuffs of farmers. Not surprisingly, metallurgy developed first near the farming valleys of the great river systems of the Nile, Tigris-Euphrates, and Indus, all of which provided a high yield of foodstuffs per acre. If metalworkers pursued their occupations full-time, then it is likely that other craft specialties developed in a similar manner. The combination of agricultural surpluses with copper and bronze tools provided the basis for development of the great irrigation civilizations of the Middle East. There the organization of work developed along lines that remained unchanged for the next 5,000 years, until the beginnings of mechanization and industrialization in the 18th century.

The ancient world

In his seminal book Oriental Despotism(1957), historian and political scientist Karl Wittfogel presented a general theory of the development of ancient civilizations. He found examples of large-scale systematic organization of work, the emergence of social classes, and widespread specialization. Wittfogel believed that the development of irrigation projects in such areas as Mesopotamia and Egypt led to the use of mass labour, to an organizational hierarchy for coordinating and directing these activities, and to government control for ensuring proper distribution of the water. (Seehydraulic civilization.) Though tribal societies had some form of government, this was usually personal in nature, exercised by a patriarch over a tribal group related by various degrees of kinship. Now, for the first time, an impersonal government as a distinct and permanent institution was established.

Irrigation increased the food supply, allowing larger numbers of people to agglomerate into towns and cities. Because farmers were vulnerable to attack, armies were needed; this created the development of an officer class. Town specialization of labour brought the emergence of potters, weavers, metalworkers, scribes, lawyers, and physicians, while the new surpluses also created the basis for commerce. The more complex economy created a need for record keeping, so writing—of which the first examples come from the bookkeeping records of the storehouses in ancient Mesopotamia—was born.

Wittfogel’s theory has been modified by scholars who point to urban civilizations that lacked large-scale irrigation works. In their view, several factors, including geographic features, natural-resource distribution, climate, kinds of crops and animals raised, and relations with neighbouring peoples, entered into the response to the environment. (The work of these scholars represents a “systems” approach to defining the origins of organized societies.)

Social classes

In any case, by the time written history began, distinct economic and social classes were in existence, with members of each class occupying a certain place in the organization of work. At the apex of the social pyramid stood the ruler (often worshiped as a divinity in Mesopotamia and Egypt) and the nobles (probably grown out of a warrior group that had subjugated its neighbours). Closely aligned with them were the priests; possessing knowledge of writing and mathematics, the priests served as government officials, organizing and directing the economy and overseeing clerks and scribes. The traders and merchants, who distributed and exchanged goods produced by others, were below the noble-priest class in the social pyramid. A sizable group of artisans and craftsmen, producing specialized goods, belonged to the lower economic classes. Even lower in the social hierarchy were the peasants, and at the bottom of the social scale were the slaves, most likely originating as war captives or ruined debtors. The social structure in Classical Greece and Rome followed these lines. For relatively short periods of time, some democracies did away with the ruling group, substituting a class of free landholders and providing a citizen army of warriors, but the basic economic organization remained unchanged.

Certain characteristics of the ancient organization of work emerged from the social stratification described above. Chief among these was the hereditary nature of occupations and status. At certain times and places—in the later Roman Empire, for example—heredity of occupation was enforced by law, but tradition was usually sufficient to maintain the system. The social structure remained remarkably stable and was reinforced by the organizations of workers engaged in the same occupation. These groups—some voluntary and some required by law—can be viewed as prototypes of the medieval guilds.

Agriculture

The basic agricultural work unit in the ancient world was the family. Even in certain regions where the state owned the land, farms were allocated by family. Furthermore, when large farming estates were formed during the Roman Empire, the structure of rural society was little affected, because the owners commonly left cultivation of their land to peasants who became their tenants.

Work within the family farm unit often was divided along sexual lines: the men commonly bore chief responsibility for such seasonal tasks as plowing, sowing, tilling, and harvesting, while the women cared for children, prepared food, and made clothing. If slaves were available, their work was similarly divided. During planting and harvesting seasons, the entire family performed fieldwork, with sons and daughters entering into an apprenticeship under their parents. Technology also influenced work organization. The usual draft team in antiquity—a pair of oxen—required two operators: a driver for the team and a guide for the plow.

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